Bawaslu Urges Students to Become Participatory Election Supervisors

Indonesia’s Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) has called on university students to not only be social media users but also to play an active role in building a healthy democracy by enhancing digital literacy, countering the spread of hoaxes, and overseeing the electoral process. Puadi, a member of Bawaslu RI, made the appeal while opening the Bawaslu Campus Connect event titled ‘Digital Generation, Transparent Democracy’ at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law, State University of Jakarta (UNJ), on Wednesday. Puadi stated that Bawaslu is collaborating with universities to establish broader cooperation with the academic community while encouraging the involvement of the younger generation in election supervision. He outlined various ways for students to contribute to democratic oversight, including refraining from spreading hoaxes, conducting fact-checking, reporting suspected election violations to Bawaslu, and undertaking election-based research. Furthermore, Bawaslu is opening opportunities for students to become directly involved as election organisers at various levels, from the village and sub-district levels to the district and city levels. ‘In the future, many UNJ students can also be recruited to become organisers, whether at the village, sub-district, or district/city level. This is part of participation,’ he said. Puadi further assessed that the future quality of Indonesian democracy is determined not only by regulations or technological advancements but also by the quality of its young generation. He expressed hope that the Bawaslu Campus Connect programme will produce a generation that is technologically literate, has integrity, is socially aware, and possesses a sense of responsibility in safeguarding Indonesian democracy.